My First Halloween

Melanie's first Halloween lasted a couple of weeks, but for good reason. She hung out with a pirate and monkey the weekend of October 18 when we all headed to Lunchbox's wedding. Unfortunately, the pirate and monkey both ended up sick after that weekend, but we're thankful they're both on the mend now. Those photos have already been posted.....

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Fast forward to Thursday night (10/30) when Mel hung out with her cousin Molly, the penguin. By then, Melanie had made her full transition to monkeydome, and played her role well, despite a slight fall. She even figured out - without any contemplation - how to climb stairs that night! Gear up the monkey! Julie has two steps between her two main living areas. Mel just climbed right up, and kept crawling. Never even thought about it or looked back. And then did it a repeat 85 times.

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On Friday, Mel changed from a monkey back to a bumblebee, and wore her outfit to daycare as well as in the neighborhood parade. She was a big hit while handing out candy as well. If only she could've actually stung Lucas.

Eating and Walking - I Mean, Running.

Well, we're throwing the GI's recommendation for increasing Mel's caloric intake out the window. The first night we tried it (the night of the last post), we were up with a very wired baby. Yes, his recommendation was to add SUGAR to her formula. So, next suggestion, please! My seven-month-old baby doesn't need sugar, thank you.
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Mel is, however, going through somewhat of a growth spurt, it seems. She cannot get enough formula into that tummy of hers. Yesterday she was a champion eater, and then ate an additional TWELVE ounces over night! so she hit 34 ounces before midnight last night. That is a lot for little Mel - she averages around 24 ounces a day in addition to her other food. Maybe by the time she's done with this little growth spurt she'll sleep through the night more consistently??
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Mel is now cruising through the house with her little walker toy she borrowed from Charlie & Sammie. After a couple of weeks of being more interested in the gadgets on the front of the toy, she is now pushing that thing ALL around. There is no walking for our Miss Melanie - it's straight to running! She crashes into walls and just keeps pushing, trying to tear down walls (she would have come in handy at Grandma & Grandpa Doans' house over the last couple of weeks!) Once redirected, she's off like a shot again. She's still working on bending her knees, but she LOVES to "walk"! And Lucas especially loves her continued mobility.

GI Specialist

This afternoon Melanie went back to the GI Specialist (she and her daddy have a lot in common here). Mel last saw Dr. Bax in July, and they seemed pleased with her progress today. She is 14lbs, 1oz, and 27 inches. She gained three pounds in three months (not quite on track for where she needs to be!) - but overall doing well. We changed her "recipe" for formula to increase her caloric intake once again. Dr. Bax was impressed with her development and everything else, and doesn't seem concerned with anything at this point. We'll continue monitoring her progress and hope that she gets some meat on her bones for the Indiana winter that is ahead!
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Melanie has had a couple instances this week of separation anxiety AND stranger anxiety. She cried when Daddy dropped her off at daycare Monday morning - cried again at the drycleaner man and when Dr. Bax tried to use his stethescope on her. Our tough little girl is growing up!

Melanie and her Cousins

We spent this weekend in Michigan City with Jeff's family..... G&G Worzala got to babysit all three grandkids while we all went to our friend Lunchbox's wedding reception in South Bend. It was a fun way to get everyone together and yet still have some adult time having a cocktail and doing some dancing. (yes, the two have to go hand in hand for me, unfortunately).

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Charlie, Melanie, and Sammie got dressed up in their Halloween garb on Sunday morning for our entertainment. Melanie is still riding the fence between a bumblebee and a monkey ; stay tuned, as now we have both costumes.

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After spending some time with Gretchen and doing some outlet shopping on Sunday, we headed to Frankfort for dinner with the other set of family. It was great to see all the cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents and celebrate Chris' big day with him and his family! As you can see, Melanie is quite enamored with both of her babies above.

The Front Door

Melanie loves crawling to the front door - banging on it, licking it, blowing on it....this is just a sampling of tonight's photos, which captures her new nightly activities!

Look Who's CRAWLING!!

After two months of "army crawling," Melanie is now crawling!! Since I still don't know how to download videos to the computer, you'll have to pretend like the above photos are action shots!

Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday, Jeff, Melanie and I went to the Pumpkin Patch at Clarian North - what an event! They had a petting zoo, jumping house, race car, lifeline helicopter, Boomer from the Pacers, and much much more for the kiddos. Melanie wasn't too interested in much of it, but she did have some fun. While we were there, we got Mel weighed (inside the hospital - not at the pumpkin ptach!)- 13lbs, 9oz. Still a little peanut!

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Mel also started this week attempting to eat some "meats" - chicken meals in a jar. She's not a big fan, but we'll keep trying!

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The last few days, she's been finding her knees while crawling - graduating from her army crawl. Today she is getting even more consistent with it, so maybe she's a big-girl crawler now! We'll see if it sticks.